Maryeve Dufault
Maryeve Dufault (born February 16, 1982 in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec) is a Canadian-American Model, Advertising Spokesperson, and Racecar Driver. She perhaps is more well-known for having raced in the Skip Barber, Formula BMW, Formula Renault, Star Mazda, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series. She has also previously auditioned to become the newest Barker's Beauty on The Price is Right during model tryouts in 2001. Early Life & Career Maryeve's nationality is Canadian as she hails from Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. Auto Racing runs in her family as her father and brother both raced motorcycles in Quebec. Maryeve got into racing at just four years of age, racing motocross and go-karts. By the time that she was nine years old she had broken both arms while racing. She began racing karts nationally in Canada and the United States in several series, including the Rotax International Series, winning several karting championships. She later moved up to formula racing, including Formula BMW USA, the Skip Barber Racing Series, Formula Russell, Formula Renault, Pro Star Mazda, and Formula 3, scoring podium finishes on several occasions, and captured victories in several series. Dufault has also performed precision driving for Honda, Polaris and Yamaha, and has also extensively tested Formula cars in China and Great Britain. In the early 2000s, Dufault packed her bags and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career in Auto Racing and modeling. She won Miss Hawaiian Tropic International in 2000, beating over 35,000 competitors for the honor, becoming the only Miss Hawaiian Tropic International ever from Quebec and only the third Canadian winner. She, along with co-winner Lisa Kessous (née Courbetis) won the Miss Hawaiian Tropic Canada competition and both represented Canada at the world competition in Las Vegas in 2000. Maryeve narrowly beat Kessous for the world title in Las Vegas. Her main participation reason was winning prizes included a motorcycle and Jet Ski, as well as prize money to keep racing. She was invited to the United Service Organizations "USO" tour, Operation in Kosovo, Bosnia and Macedonia. ''Price is Right'' audition Still relatively new to the Los Angeles area, Maryeve learned that the television game show The Price is Right was holding auditions to find two new Barker's Beauties to permanently replace long-time models Janice Pennington (since it's September 4, 1972 premiere) and Kathleen Bradley (since December 1990, officially), both of whom were abruptly dismissed (along with several staff members) from the series back in December 2000 as their unannounced final appearances aired on the 13th. With only a few weeks into the model tryouts, one of the positions would become permanently filled come February 2001 as the show's producers signed Claudia Jordan, who first made her tryout debut on (airdate) December 21st, to a permanent status (although it wasn't officially announced until the show's 30th Season Premiere show in September 2001) after they were impressed with her modeling as well as becoming a favorite among the fans. With Claudia onboard, the search continued on to permanently fill the other spot. Despite her shaky English, the lovely brunette aced her audition and was granted the opportunity to appear on-camera as an auditioning Barker's Beauty as she made her televisied debut on (airdate) April 2, 2001 and continuing on until the 6th, only appearing for five shows. Later Career After her brief stint as a tryout model on The Price is Right, Dufault then moved on to appear on several television shows and movies including Driven, Entourage, Relative Strangers, and the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (which tapes across the hall from Price) Maryeve also continued a career in the modeling world. In August 2011, she appeared in that month's issue of Maxim and was also featured by Sports Illustrated as their "Lovely Lady of the Day". She has also acted as a stunt driver for the movie Fast Girl. Dufault was lated invited to participate on the show The Insider, as well as on E! News to talk about women in racing and the difficulties of competing in a male dominated sport. Racing Career In 2010, Dufault began her career in Stock Car racing, beginning with the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series by racing in two events. She was signed as a driver development contract with the FAZZT Race Team in 2010 and was the very first female race car driver selected to be part of the Dodge Motorsport driver development program. In early testing of her ARCA Racing Series car at New Smyrna Speedway and Daytona International Speedway in January 2011, Maryeve left a strong impression on NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski. In February 2011, she made her ARCA debut at Daytona and by December, she had made fourteen starts in the ARCA Racing Series with one top 10 and six top 13 in her first year in stock car racing; her first top 10 being a tenth place finish at Chicagoland Speedway. She finished the ARCA season sixteenth in the series points standings, despite missing five races during the season because of a lack of sponsorship. The Canadian native went from modeling Cars on The Price is Right to driving them as she made her NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on August 20, 2011 driving for MacDonald Motorsports. As the team was in the top 30 in season car-owner points, she was guaranteed a starting position as she started 39th and finished 30th with a transmission mount broke. She was the first Canadian woman to race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series since it took that name. Maryeve was also listed as one of the "Top female drivers in racing today" by Fox Sports, and was also named as one of the "Top 12 Up-and-Coming Female Drivers in Motorsports" by Bleacher Report. In addition, Dufault competed in the inaugural Dodge Viper Celebrity Challenge at Miller Motorsports Park in October 2011, competing alongside racing legends such as Roger Penske, Kurt Busch and Allen Johnson. Trivia She was featured on a Press Pass trading card in 2012. A lack of sponsorship delayed the start of her 2012 season. In 2012, she participated in the 'Drive for the Fans' social media contest, representing Fiat Abarth. After competing in three ARCA Racing Series events for Carter 2 Motorsports in 2012, Dufault joined Go Green Racing for the 2013 season, impressing the team during testing and being assigned to drive in a Nationwide Series race for the team at Chicagoland Speedway. In November 2013, it was announced that Maryeve would drive in the full 2014 ARCA Racing Series season for Team Stange Racing as well as competing in twelve NASCAR Nationwide Series events for Go Green Racing. When she's not on the fast track, Maryeve works very actively in charity. In 2010, she raised $10,000 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation as well as participating in a Bermudan trip to raise funds for the Syncairly Yours Foundation, a charity for uninsured mothers with premature babies. Today, Maryeve presumably continues in Auto Racing and makes (or has made) her residence in Mooresville, North Carolina. Gallery (Maryeve as a tryout model on The Price is Right, April 2001) 2ds4vix.jpg maryeve02.jpg maryeve05.jpg maryeve12.jpg maryeve15.jpg maryeve25.jpg maryeve39.jpg maryeve32.jpg maryeve33.jpg maryeve35.jpg maryeve37.jpg maryeve48.jpg maryeve50.jpg E01c97fcecb2b060743fed30b9bfd925_L.jpg NAPA_Auto_Parts_200_Day_1_DfURXPdUtfpx.jpg Maryeve-3.jpg Maryeve_Dufault-2.jpg Thumb.jpg Category:Models Category:People Category:Model Tryouts Category:2000s Models